336 THE FUR SEALS OP THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Thirty other sea-lion pups are seen on another rocky shelf. They are very heavily 

 built and have long noses. One has several bad cuts. They swim rather clumsily 

 yet. The sea-lion cows lie out in the surf and bellow and groan. They are usually 

 together in groups of three or four. 



The sea-lion rookery of the west side was also visited. A bull and 9 cows 

 plunge into the water on sight of us. They swim about bellowing with fear. The 

 pups, as large as yearling seals, remain on the rocks and bleat. Their color is a rich 

 brown ; that of the adults a rich creamy white. The pups are shiny, with rolls of fat 

 under the skin, and lie huddled on the rocks where the spray breaks. 



One element at least in the extinction of the great Sivutch (Eumetopias stelleri) 

 is the superfluity of bulls, that fight with tremendous force. Behind the two sea-lion 

 rookeries were some 12 dead pups, nearly as large as yearling seals, high on the rocks. 

 Jacob Kochuten says that they were killed by fighting bulls, which must be the 

 case. 1 Three of them were crushed under great stones weighing 50 to 100 pounds 

 each, " kicked up by bulls," according to Jacob. Certainly they were not thrown on 

 them by the surf. Two or three others had bled pools of blood from their noses, which 

 points to crushing rather than drowning as a cause of death. 2 



One Sivutch pup recently dead seems emaciated, as though it had starved to 

 death. Its skin is saved for museum purposes. 



MORJOVI ROOKERY. 



Up to a certain point in polygamy, the less bulls the more pups. The wise 

 breeder would not turn a herd of 100 fighting bulls into a herd of 100 cows. 



I go to the windward side of 500 sleeping bachelors and not far away. So long 

 as I go quietly they pay no attention. I do not believe much in the acuteness of their 

 sense of smell. If a man does not move, they care no more for him than for a sea lion. 

 I sit down on a log within two rods of the harems and the cows pay no attention to 

 me. The bull was much disturbed by my approach, but lies down and pants. The 

 half bulls and idle bulls pant loudly on the drives, but the bulls always pant, even 

 while going about their domestic duties. 



Three water bulls come up behind me out of curiosity. These water bulls are 

 very inquisitive. But no one is alarmed while I remain quiet, though on the wind- 

 ward side. It is the rushing of the half bulls into the harems that causes most of 

 the commotion. The old bulls promptly collar them and throw them out. 



One stray pup among the bachelors is cut in the rump, as though bitten. He is 

 growing poor, but is sturdy and quarrelsome and wants no nonsense. I have to leave 

 him to starve. A dead seal pup lies beside two dead sea-lion pups, far from any 

 rookery. Probably tossed up by the surf after death. 



Seven more dead pups are ou the sand beach further on, with 2 more sea-lion pups 

 and a half bull. All have probably been washed in by the surf from the neighboring- 

 harems. Three small dead pups were seen on the slope of Hutchinson Hill. One lay 

 among the bachelors not emaciated. One dead pup was seen at the edge of the 

 harems to the north of the Hill. 



1 It remains yet to be determined whether these dead pups were not killed by the worm, 

 Uncinaria. This sea-lion rookery occupies a sandy area in part. The pups here were too long dead 

 in 1897 to determine the cause of death. 



4 Bleeding at the nose may be caused by Uncinaria. 



